The 20th United States-Japan joint hepatitis panel meeting

Last year marked the 20th annual meeting of the U.S.-Japan Joint Hepatitis Panel, which is organized by the U.S.-Japan Cooperative Medical Science Program under a long-standing, bilateral agreement between the United States and Japan. The goals of this Program are to work cooperatively in developing critical areas of medical science in an effort to improve the treatment and control of viral hepatitis in both nations as well as in other countries of the Pacific Rim. The 20th Joint Hepatitis Panel Meeting was held in Maihama, Urayasu, Chiba, Japan. The 65 participants attending the meeting included representatives from academia, industry, and the government agencies of 10 different countries. The meeting focused on advances in the treatment and prevention of disease caused by hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). A special session focused on 2 emerging infectious agents, TT virus (TTV) and hepatitis E virus (HEV), while another special session reviewed the current status of chronic hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma in the Pacific Rim nations. As is always the case with this meeting, the contrasting perspectives of Asian and American investigators working in this field were of particular interest.